“The restrictions must be washed out of jeans”. Marithé and François Girbaud’s slogan says much about the philosophy of this eclectic and ironical designer couple who have, over a period of 40 years, succeeded in revolutionizing denim, changing it from work garment to fashion piece with carefully studied details, cut and an increasingly ergonomic form.

The French designers, staunch ecologists and tireless inventors of fashions and trends since 1964, were the first to patent washed jeans, to industrialize stonewashing and the first to conceive the “Blue Eternal” treatment that preserves the dark blue colour intact after every wash. Today, their brand has a turnover of 200 million euro, they own 15 shops and another 75 sell their products all over the world.

The exhibition at Stazione Leopolda focuses on their research and design career. Installed for Pitti Immagine Uomo, it underlines the strong identity of the French brand, expressed in ventures with the finest international photographers: Toscani, Ferri, Laxton, Nafziger and Kander. They have created images and campaigns that have left their mark or prompted debate, e.g. the recent female version of the Last Supper, photographed by Brigitte Niedermair and banned in Milan for blasphemy. E.S.

23.6.2005 – 10.7.2005
L’altro jeans. Il faut laver le jean de ses idées
Stazione Leopolda
Viale Fratelli Rosselli 5, Firenze
https://www.stazione-leopolda.com